NO ITEMS

First, They Erased Our Name

a Rohingya speaksHabiburahman, Sophie Ansel
(trans. Andrea Reece)

‘More than 688,000 Rohingya fled western Burma since August 2017, at the launch of punitive operations, a sweep of violence without precedent. Habiburahman, though, left the zone well before this happened — 18 years ago. He passed through Thailand and Malaysia, was stopped by a fishing boat, then tried to reach Australia by sea, getting as far as the Christmas Islands. After two and a half years in Australian detention centers, he was released at the end of 2012.’

Le Monde

‘Habiburahman without doubt presents an unambiguous view of the Burmese situation … But there is little evidence from the Rangoon government to seriously deny it.’

L'Express

‘This is my chance to speak for my people, who continue to suffer, but who are voiceless.’

The Guardian

For the first time, a Rohingya speaks up to expose the persecution facing his people.

“I am three years old and will have to grow up with the hostility of others. I am already an outlaw in my own country, an outlaw in the world. I am three years old, and I don’t yet know that I am stateless.”

Habiburahman was born in 1979 and raised in a small village in western Burma. When he was three years old, the country’s military leader declared that his people, the Rohingya, were not one of the 135 recognised ethnic groups that formed the eight 'national races'. He was left stateless in his own country.

Since 1982, millions of Rohingya have had to flee their homes as a result of extreme prejudice and persecution. In 2016 and 2017, the government intensified the process of ethnic cleansing, and over 600,000 Rohingya people were forced to cross the border into Bangladesh.

Here, for the first time, a Rohingya speaks up to expose the truth behind this global humanitarian crisis. Through the eyes of a child, we learn about the historic persecution of the Rohingya people and witness the violence Habiburahman endured throughout his life until he escaped the country in 2000.

First, They Erased Our Name is an urgent, moving memoir about what it feels like to be repressed in one’s own country and a refugee in others. It gives voice to the voiceless.

‘More than 688,000 Rohingya fled western Burma since August 2017, at the launch of punitive operations, a sweep of violence without precedent. Habiburahman, though, left the zone well before this happened — 18 years ago. He passed through Thailand and Malaysia, was stopped by a fishing boat, then tried to reach Australia by sea, getting as far as the Christmas Islands. After two and a half years in Australian detention centers, he was released at the end of 2012.’

Le Monde

‘Habiburahman without doubt presents an unambiguous view of the Burmese situation … But there is little evidence from the Rangoon government to seriously deny it.’

AUTHORS

Habiburahman

Habiburahman, known as Habib, is a Rohingya. Born in 1979 in Burma (now Myanmar), he escaped torture, persecution, and detention in his country, fleeing first to neighbouring countries in Southeast Asia, where he faced further discrimination and violence, and then, in December 2009, to Australia, by boat. Habib spent 32 months in detention centres before being released. He now lives in Melbourne. Today, he remains stateless, unable to benefit from his full human rights. Habib founded the Australian Burmese Rohingya Organization (ABRO) to advocate for his people back in Burma and for his community. He is also a translator, social worker, the support service co-ordinator at Refugees, Survivors and Ex-Detainees (RISE), and the secretary of the international Rohingya organisation Arakan Rohingya National Organisation (ARNO), based in the UK. The hardship and the human rights violation Habib has faced have made him both a spokesperson for his people and a target for detractors of the Rohingya cause.

Sophie Ansel

Sophie Ansel is a French journalist, author, and director, who lived in South Asia for several years. It was during a five-month stay in Burma that she first encountered the Rohingya people and heard of their plight. She returned to the country several times, and also visited the refugee communities in neighbouring countries like Thailand and Malaysia, where she met Habib in 2006. Habib helped Sophie to better understand the persecution faced by the Rohingya, and she has been advocating for their cause since 2011. When the Myanmar government accelerated the genocide of the Rohingya in June 2012, while Habib was detained in Australia, she helped him to write his story, and the story of his people.

TRANSLATOR

Andrea Reece

Andrea Reece is a translator of novels, short stories, and works of non-fiction from French and Spanish.